The Ultimate Anime Space Opera Is Finally Getting A Western Release

Legends of the Galactic Heroes to Finally Get Western Release

Widely considered by experts in anime as the best anime series ever, an English language version of Legends has never been produced or released…until now. While we don’t have an exact date or any information on what format it will be released in, the news that Sentai Filmworks have picked this classic series up is exciting. Speculation about a Spring 2016 release has us crossing our fingers that we don’t have much longer to wait.

Here’s a Japanese language trailer for this epic anime classic to help you while you wait:

There are a few series that have always been thought impossible when it came to a Western release, either due to their complexity, obscurity or sheer size. In the case of Legend of the Galactic Heroes all three of those applied but Sentai Filmworks have recently announced that they will bring the series Westward in the near future.

To give a bit of context, Legend of the Galactic Heroes is based on a series of ten novels written by the acclaimed Yoshiki Tanaka and set in the distant future after humanity has colonized vast swathes of the galaxy. In this time, the huge sprawling Galactic Empire emerged. A tyrannical regime, it wasn’t long until large sections of its populace rebelled.

A chunk of the Empire then broke free and formed the Free Planets Alliance, which in turn created a galactic wide civil war as the Empire wasn’t about to let its subjects go without a fight.

By the time we enter the story, the war has been continuing for over 150 years. Into this two genius strategists on either side emerge; Reinhard von Musel of the Galactic Empire and Yang Wen Li of the Free Planets Alliance.

Much of the story then revolves around how either party deals with the other, initially indirectly and then more personally. Even with both sides locked in bitter conflict, the two protagonists deeply respect and admire one another. So the resultant tone of the series is a very mature and refreshing one.

As a series it was also impeccably paced and is arguably one of the most admired works in all of anime. It also took its production around 10 years to animate the 110 episodes, as each one was a straight to video OVA.

Update: In addition to the anime being finally released in the West, Viz will also be publishing the original novels too. Starting in spring of next year.